Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani 'Still A Couple Months Away' from Pitching Return, Roberts Says
Andrew Peters
Apr 17, 2025
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is "still a couple months away" from returning to the mound, manager Dave Roberts said on Thursday.
"I know that's still vague, but we're just trying to get to the next step, get to the next step and see where we're at," Roberts said on The Jim Rome Show. "But certainly expect him to pitch for us this year and through the postseason."
When will we see Shohei on the mound in Dodger Blue?
Dave Roberts gives a timeline on Ohtani's progress toward his return to pitching. pic.twitter.com/Jvlmsl6P8i
Ohtani has not pitched since August of 2023 when he tore his UCL while with the Los Angeles Angels. Roberts was a bit more optimistic about Ohtani's timeline this offseason, saying that he could be back on the mound by May.
Ad Placeholder
After that update from Roberts in February, he said in March that Ohtani's return to the mound is still "a ways off."
Ohtani, who won his third MVP award a season ago, has become so dominant at the plate that it's easy to forget how good he is on the mound. In 2023, he recorded a 3.14 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 23 starts, picking up a 10-5 record. In 2022, he notched a career-best 2.33 ERA and 1.01 WHIP, going 15-9 with 28 starts and finishing fourth in AL Cy Young voting.
Ad Placeholder
While the Dodgers haven't gotten Ohtani on the mound yet, he's earned his lucrative contract at the plate. He's coming off a season in which he hit .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs and 130 RBI, adding 59 stolen bases as Los Angeles took home the World Series.
Through 20 games this year, Ohtani has six homers, eight RBI and five stolen bases with a .288 batting average, on pace for another 40-home-run, 40-steal season. The Dodgers are 14-6 on the year, sitting in third place in a competitive NL West.
Nationals' Jorge Lopez Suspended 3 Games by MLB for Throwing at Andrew McCutchen
Adam Wells
Apr 17, 2025
Washington Nationals reliever Jorge López has been suspended for his role in Wednesday's benches-clearing incident against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
MLB announced on Thursday that López received a three-game suspension "for intentionally throwing" at Andrew McCutchen in the seventh inning of Pittsburgh's 6-1 win.
Jorge López has received a three-game suspension and a fine for intentionally throwing at Andrew McCutchen last nightpic.twitter.com/hxeUwgd8rX
Nationals manager Davey Martinez was also suspended for one game. He will sit out Thursday's series finale at PNC Park. López is appealing his suspension, meaning he will be eligible to pitch until a decision is rendered.
López was ejected from the game by the home-plate umpire after the pitch went toward McCutchen's head before the Pirates outfielder was able to duck out of the way to avoid being hit.
Ad Placeholder
The situation was part of a series of events between the two teams that started on Tuesday night when Washington third baseman Paul DeJong suffered a fractured nose when he was hit by a pitch from Mitch Keller.
López hit Bryan Reynolds with a pitch one batter prior to McCutchen stepping in the box on Wednesday. The right-handed reliever did issue an apology after the game.
Ad Placeholder
"I apologize for everything," López told reporters. "I didn’t make any pitch [on purpose] right there. … I tried to do my adjustment. I’ve been trying to find my way with my delivery, I tried to find my way through the whole season. And it's really miserable that happened. I regret what just happened."
The Pirates, who led the game 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, scored five runs to blow it wide open.
López was charged with four runs on two hits allowed. His ERA is up to 10.57 in 7.2 innings this season.
The Nationals and Pirates will wrap up their four-game series on Thursday afternoon. Washington will travel to Colorado for three games with the Rockies this weekend.
Jayson Werth Talks Kentucky Derby, MLB's Torpedo Bats and More in B/R Interview
Adam Wells
Apr 17, 2025
Jayson Werth is familiar with the highest-pressure situations from his 15-year career in Major League Baseball, but his most nerve-wracking moment in sports involved an event he wasn't physically competing in.
Werth will be featured in Netflix's upcoming documentary series Race for the Crown about the 2024 Triple Crown season (all six episodes release on April 22). While speaking to Bleacher Report, he explained that watching his horse, Dornoch, compete in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes channeled an unfamiliar feeling in him.
"It's like being a father of a kid that's playing, being the manager of a team that's playing," Werth told Bleacher Report. "All the pre-race stuff leading up to it is like you're having a full meltdown. Your skin doesn't feel right on your body. You're having a hard time breathing. Your necktie is way too tight. All that goes into it on the pre-race stuff up until they're going to the gate. When they were going to the gate at the Kentucky Derby, it takes forever to load the horses, and I was hyperventilating. I couldn't even breathe. I was never nervous in baseball. I didn't get nervous before playing big games, like the World Series. For me, the bigger the game, the calmer I was. This whole nerves thing is like some crazy drug I've never done. I'm not used to it, but when they leave the gate, that's the part that feels like you're playing again."
The nerves may have been fraying for Werth in the Belmont Stakes. He could only watch from the stands as Dornoch moved into the top spot coming down the final stretch before holding off Mindframe to win the final leg of the Triple Crown.
For Werth, the journey to owning race horses began out of a need to fill his competitive urges after retiring from baseball in 2018. He started by playing golf and noticed horse racing was frequently on in the clubhouse, even though it wasn't apparent to him right away that they were live events being broadcast on TV.
Ad Placeholder
"I'm literally looking up at the television like, 'is this a rerun of the Kentucky Derby?' I had no idea that horses ran all day, every day all over the world," he explained. "I have no idea that you could run at Tampa Bay Downs on a Tuesday afternoon. I was totally clueless, so I was intrigued and all of a sudden they're all yelling and they win."
Werth said he would watch this "for months" every Tuesday, so he decided to start asking questions of his friend and longtime horse owner Rich Averill about racing before eventually landing "a leg" of a low-level claiming horse that is "a long way from the Kentucky Derby."
Ad Placeholder
After developing a taste for it, Werth decided to jump all the way in by starting Two Eight Racing named for the jersey number he wore for most of his MLB career. He also started Icon Racing, a new syndicate to bring in his friends, family and colleagues to the sport.
The wager is paying off, as Werth's team will be represented at the Kentucky Derby again this year. Flying Mohawk was added to the lineup for Churchill Downs in what will be his first race on a dirt track.
Ad Placeholder
Werth is still able to keep an eye on his previous job from time to time. While the torpedo bat has become all the rage in the early going so far this season, he noted there was a time when he was among a set of players who attempted to have their bats changed in such a way that would shift some of the weight from the end of the bat closer to the barrel only to be rebuffed by MLB:
"What I find interesting about this whole thing is, we know the sweet spot of the bat is down the barrel. We've all known this for a long time. And so I asked because it used to be the bat would taper where the fatter end was toward the end where it was above the sweet spot. I asked to get the sweet spot bigger and taper to the bottom, essentially what the torpedo bat is. And I got them to make the sweet spot the same size as the rest of the bat, and your bat got labeled as LDM, which meant low-density maple because it had to be a certain weight-to-length ratio because of the added barrel down toward the sweet spot. So I thought, 'let's make a bigger sweet spot,' and I wasn't alone, but they categorize those bats as LDM. And I said, 'well just take the weight off the end of the barrel and taper it into the end of the cup.' And I was told that you couldn't do that."
Some players across the league are using “torpedo” bats. Torpedo bats are defined by an untraditional barrel, which rests closer to the hitter's hands. The bats are designed with more wood concentrated in the area of the bat where the hitter is most likely to hit the ball. pic.twitter.com/EMm0meES4p
Werth did point out that he wasn't sure whether or not the league adjusted some its wording on what constitutes an approved bat in the last 10-15 years.
Ad Placeholder
"I don't wanna hit the ball off the end of the bat anyway," he added. "I can't remember who told me that, but I don't think (torpedo bats) are an original idea, but it's original in the sense that it's being allowed now, so I don't know what happened. ... I don't think it's a bad idea because you wanna hit the ball on the sweet spot, so make the sweet spot the biggest part of the bat. It's really not an outrageous concept."
MLB did ban soft, low-density maple bats in an attempt to prevent potential injuries to players on the field, since they were lighter and would shatter easily, sending large pieces of wood flying in the air.
Ad Placeholder
The ban was grandfathered in, so players who had been using low-density maple bats prior to the ban being implemented in 2010 were allowed to keep using them in games.
Hitters in the league prior to 2010 were allowed to continue to use the low density maple. It helps bats with a big barrel have a relatively low swing weight.
Players debuting 2011+ have to use a more dense maple better suited for bats. Basically, theyre less likely to break…
Even though there wouldn't seem to be any obvious connections between the two sports Werth has become so closely associated with over the course of his life, he has found ways to spot some of the parallels.
In particular, Werth highlighted the speed at which an individual play occurs in baseball can mirror that of a horse race.
"The bases are loaded and you're in the dugout, and your teammate's up (to bat). That's when you're like, 'come on,' and he hits the ball to the gap. And you're waving your guy from first around to win the game. That's what it feels like for two minutes. In a baseball game it takes eight seconds. But in a horse race, when they leave the gate, you got two minutes of that excitement.
For someone who experienced the highest of highs in his own athletic career, Werth has achieved the goal that was originally set out for himself of being able to recapture that feeling.
"Just an incredible experience, a life-changing experience at the Belmont to go to it, let alone win it," Werth said. "So after he won, now it's like this is incredible. I stood at the top of the mountain in baseball. I stood at the top of the mountain in horse racing. And I can tell you, it's the same feeling. The idea is to chase that. We want to give that experience to many other people, and people that aren't in the horse-racing industry, and to bring new owners and help grow this sport because I think it's so amazing."
The wager is paying off, as Werth's team will be represented at the Kentucky Derby again this year. Flying Mohawk was added to the lineup for Churchill Downs in what will be his first race on a dirt track.
Getting a taste of the Triple Crown last year has only strengthened Werth's resolve to get back in the winner circle on the grandest stage in horse racing.
"One thing I'll take away (from the Belmont win) is I wanna do it again," Werth said of Flying Mohawk's upcoming appearance in the Kentucky Derby. "Having a horse in the Kentucky Derby is maybe the most prestigious thing you can do in your life. It's why people spend millions of dollars a year chasing this. It's why people pay millions of dollars just to get a piece of the horse. This is so unexpected for us to do this not only once, but twice, so it's not lost on me. I know how tough winning is. I know what it means to play in the World Series. I played 15 years, I think I went to the playoffs 10 times. And I got to the World Series twice, and I won once. I know how hard it is. I know how special it is to win and what it means to the people around you, so it's not lost on me at all."
Flying Mohawk recently had a second-place finish at the Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 22. The three-year-old colt does have a win under his belt this year, defeating States' Rights on Jan. 22.
Lindor also participated for Puerto Rico at the 2023 event, helping to lead his country to the quarterfinals where it lost to Mexico, 5-4.
He's the second captain to be named for the tournament, joining the United States' Aaron Judge.
One of the storylines from the 2023 WBC was the injuries to Puerto Rican reliever to Edwin Díaz and Venezuelan second baseman Jose Altuve, leading to questions about whether MLB players might skip the tournament to avoid injury.
Ad Placeholder
Lindor never seemed likely to entertain such thoughts, however.
"We all care for each other and no one wants to get hurt," he told reporters in 2023. "But we all love our countries and want to represent our countries. ... We have an opportunity to represent our countries and learn from our peers. It's amazing."
Lindor was fantastic at the 2023 WBC, hitting .450 with six runs, five RBI, a stolen base and a 1.050 OPS. He's a logical captain heading into 2026.
Ad Placeholder
He's had a rougher start to the 2025 season for the Mets, hitting .234 with a homer and six RBI. But after finishing as the runner-up in the NL MVP voting last year, and leading the Mets to the NLCS, he's earned plenty of benefit of doubt in New York, even after the slow start.
His country will equally be placing a lot of faith in him in 2026.
"It's Game 7 every day. I love that. I love whenever I get to wear Puerto Rico across my chest," Lindor told reporters. "Just give everything I got day in and day out. And I kind of like set the bar for that year. Now the teams are getting stacked, it's sick. I'm pumped for it."
Phillies' Matt Strahm Gets Declaration of Independence Glove amid Nicolas Cage Memes
Timothy Rapp
Apr 16, 2025
Philadelphia Phillies reliever Matt Strahm has been called something of a Nicolas Cage lookalike throughout his MLB career.
Has anyone ever seen Matt Strahm and Nicolas Cage in the same room before ...? 😂 pic.twitter.com/CPkINsU608
So Strahm decided to have fun with the comparison, getting a glove with the Declaration of Independence inscribed on it, an homage to Cage's National Treasure:
Bryce Harper has generally been the themed equipment king on these Phillies, often inspired by his love of the Phillie Phanatic. But Strahm's homage to National Treasure takes the cake.
Red Sox vs. Rays Betting Odds, Player Props and Picks for April 16
Joe Tansey
Apr 16, 2025
Steinbrenner Field rapidly turned into the new hitters’ paradise in Major League Baseball.
The Tampa Bay Rays and their opponents have combined to score at least nine runs in each of the last seven games at the temporary home of the American League East side.
The midweek series with the Boston Red Sox has been particularly advantageous to over bettors.
The Rays put up 16 runs on Monday and the Red Sox rebounded with a 7-4 victory on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup between Sean Newcomb and Zack Littell will only further fuel the high-scoring trend in Tampa.
Newcomb and Littell have a combined 0-5 record and each hurler owns an ERA over 4.90.
Ad Placeholder
Over 9 (-108)
A full week’s worth of high-scoring games have taken place at Steinbrenner Field during Tampa Bay’s current home stand.
The Rays’ temporary home is one of the more wind-sensitive parks in the majors, and its dimensions are incredibly short in the corners. The left-field foul pole is 318 feet, and the right-field line is 314 feet. The wind on Wednesday is forecasted to blow out to right-center, per Swish Analytics.
Nine of the 14 games at Steinbrenner have had at least seven runs and eight of them have had at least nine runs.
Ad Placeholder
That’s as large of a sample size as you’ll get this early in the MLB campaign.
Add in the brutal numbers Newcomb and Littell have recorded and you have the perfect concoction for another over to hit.
Ad Placeholder
Newcomb conceded at least six hits in each of his three starts. He hasn’t let up a home run yet, but 11 runs have been allowed with him on the mound. Only seven of them have been earned runs, but he’s still letting a ton of runners reach base.
Littell couldn’t keep the ball in the park in his last outing versus the Los Angeles Angels. He allowed four home runs and seven earned runs in that appearance. He’s conceded a total of 13 earned runs, 18 hits and five home runs.
Jarren Duran Over 1.5 Total Bases (-105)
Jarren Duran enters Wednesday with a home run and a .333 batting average in nine at-bats versus Littell in his career.
Ad Placeholder
The Boston leadoff man homered on Tuesday night and reached base safely in seven of his last nine games. He had two or more total bases in four games during that span.
Lefties are hitting .364 against Littell through three starts, a number worth keeping in mind not just for Duran, but for Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Wilyer Abreu as well.
Given the offensive environment in Tampa, Duran will probably get five shots from the top spot in the lineup. With his history against Littell, it’s easy to see the over cashing in the first few innings.
Yandy Diaz Over 1.5 Total Bases (-105)
A similar logic applies to betting on Yandy Diaz as it does for Duran.
Ad Placeholder
Diaz enters Wednesday on a five-game hitting streak in which he’s had four games with two or more total bases.
The Rays leadoff man is far better against lefties. He owns a .333 batting average and 1.233 OPS against southpaws in 2024. A year ago, he hit .346 with a .923 OPS versus lefties.
Newcomb’s been terrorized by right-handed batters, who have a .395 batting average against him this season.
All of the numbers are perfect for Diaz to continue his hot run at the plate.
"Click into the DraftKings display below for more on this game and the rest of tonight's schedule."
MLB Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt Struck in Head by Batted Ball During Mets vs. Twins
Doric Sam
Apr 16, 2025
A scary moment occurred in the seventh inning of Wednesday afternoon's game between the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins.
First base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt was struck in the head by a foul ball hit by Mets center fielder Tyrone Taylor, forcing him to leave the game. Per Justin Tasch of the New York Post, Wendelstedt was "down to the ground for several minutes before he got to his feet and was assisted off the field."
Per the Associated Press, Wendelstedt is in his 28th major league season as an umpire. Following his exit, second base umpire Adam Hamari moved to first for the remainder of the game.
The scary scene occurred just a half-inning after Wendelstedt blew a call at first base when he ruled Twins shortstop Willi Castro safe and cost the Mets a run. Replay showed that Castro was out, but New York had already used its challenge earlier in the game, allowing Minnesota to take a 3-0 lead.
However, the Mets scored three runs in the eighth inning to tie things up and force extras.
Pete Alonso RBI double Jesse Winker RBI double Luisangel Acuña RBI single
The Twins managed to end things in the 10th inning on a walk-off RBI single by first baseman Ty France.
The Mets will be back in action on Thursday when they open a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals, while the Twins will have a day off before visiting the Atlanta Braves on Friday.
Projecting Team USA's 2026 World Baseball Classic Roster for Captain Aaron Judge
Zachary D. Rymer
Apr 16, 2025
The 2026 World Baseball Classic is less than a year away, and Team USA has already lined up Mark DeRosa to be its manager and Aaron Judge to be its captain. That's a heck of a way to start a team.
Who else should Team USA pursue next year?
We all love an excuse to put a Dream Team together, after all, and the stakes for the 2026 Team USA squad will be high. Whereas the 2023 team was technically the defending World Baseball Classic champions, the 2026 iteration will be out for revenge for Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan.
Ad Placeholder
The caveat in projecting a 2026 roster this far out is that we largely don't know who's interested in playing, much less who would play for Team USA. To wit, none of us saw Freddie Freeman joining up to play for Canada in 2023.
Judge, though, sounds hopeful that players will flock to Team USA's cause.
Ad Placeholder
"You have a bunch of guys that compete against each other all year long, and now you bring us all together—it's going to be something special," the two-time AL MVP said Monday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "We play this game for such a small amount of time, so to get an opportunity like this, I think guys really gravitate toward it."
Good enough for us. So without further dawdling, here are 30 players we'd pick for Team USA's starting lineup, bench, rotation and bullpen. We focused on selecting prime-aged stars but also made special cases for veterans who deserve the honor.
Constructing Perfect Team USA Starting Lineup
SS Bobby Witt Jr. (R)
2B Mookie Betts (R)
LF Kyle Tucker (L)
RF Aaron Judge (R)
1B Bryce Harper (L)
DH Mike Trout (R)
3B Gunnar Henderson (L)
C Adley Rutschman (S)
CF Jackson Merrill (L)
We know Judge is going to be there, and he hopes Trout will return after captaining Team USA to the WBC Final in 2023.
Ad Placeholder
"He'd better be out there patrolling the outfield with me," Judge said.
Designated hitter sounds like a better spot for Trout, who's already an injury risk and set to turn 34 on August 7. And the three-time AL MVP can still hit, as he's averaged 47 home runs per 162 games even since his health began to deteriorate in 2021.
Ad Placeholder
Because Trout and Harper—who couldn't participate in 2023 due to Tommy John surgery—are overdue to pair up on Team USA, the two-time NL MVP can come, too. He'll be 33 on October 16, but he's still a near-certain bet for a .900 OPS and 30 homers in any given season.
Betts would make it four MVP winners in this lineup, and Tucker may well make it five by the end of 2025. He was already good, but he's turned a corner to something else since the start of last season, posting a 1.003 OPS and 28 homers in 97 games.
Witt vs. Henderson is one of the great debates of our time, as they're basically mirror images of each other in terms of productivity since 2023. But since Henderson can also play third, we thankfully don't need to choose just one to man the left side of Team USA's starting infield.
After dealing with nagging injuries in 2024, Rutschman looks more like himself to the tune of a .807 OPS in 2025. He would stare out at center field and see Merrill, who has 5.1 rWAR and 27 homers to show for 166 games in the majors.
Raleigh arguably deserves to be Team USA's starting catcher, but it would be a privilege to have his Big Dumper on the bench. Platinum Glove-winning catchers with 30-homer power are rare, after all.
For further pop off the bench, DeRosa could turn to Alonso and his 230 career home runs. He played for Team USA in 2023, and Tim Healey of Newsday reported that he wants back on the roster for 2026.
Riley would likewise provide pop off the bench, with the ability to play both third and first in a pinch. Carroll would be the speedster on the pine for DeRosa, though even his .480 slugging percentage understates the threat he poses as a slugger.
Edman, meanwhile, would be a notable name on this list even if he wasn't turning heads with a six-homer start to 2025. There's no position he can't play in the field, except for maybe first base and catcher.
For his part, Campbell is a budding superstar (.972 OPS, 0.8 rWAR in 17 games) who has started games at second base, center field and left field. He'd be a second Swiss Army knife for DeRosa.
Bench Honorable Mentions: Will Smith, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Dansby Swanson, James Wood
Constructing the Perfect Team USA Starting Rotation
Ad Placeholder
Paul Skenes, RHP
Tarik Skubal, LHP
Hunter Greene, RHP
Zack Wheeler, RHP
Garrett Crochet, LHP
Logan Gilbert, RHP
Logan Webb, RHP
To be clear, this isn't so much a "starting rotation" as a collection of pitchers who could provide bulk innings for DeRosa. The World Baseball Classic does take place during spring training, after all.
Lest anyone think Skenes is overhyped, just remember he's a sensation despite his lowly station with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That his 2.12 ERA is the lowest ever for a live-ball era pitcher through his first 27 starts is likewise a big deal.
Skubal has been on an incredible run since July 4, 2023, posting a 2.52 ERA with 355 strikeouts over 296 innings. Greene has similar helium dating back to last July, with 13 starts yielding a 1.00 ERA with 91 strikeouts and just 35 hits allowed in 80.2 innings.
Ad Placeholder
Wheeler is going to be 35 on May 30, so it's with some trepidation that we included him. But when a guy is far and away the rWAR leader among pitchers since 2020, they deserve a shot at national heroism.
Crochet has fanned 12.4 batters per nine innings since transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation last spring. And for their parts, each of the Logans can claim to be massively underrated.
Gilbert led the majors in both innings and WHIP last year, which basically makes him a one-man efficiency symposium. Webb has logged a league-high 637 innings since 2022, in the process getting 84 more ground-ball outs than anyone else.
Starting RotationHonorable Mentions: Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Chris Sale, Zac Gallen, Dylan Cease, Aaron Nola, Max Fried
Constructing the Perfect Team USA Bullpen
Closer: Mason Miller, RHP
Setup: Ryan Helsley, RHP
Setup: Tanner Scott, LHP
Middle: Josh Hader, LHP
Middle: Devin Williams, RHP
Middle: Ryan Walker, RHP
Middle: Hunter Gaddis, RHP
Long: Michael King, RHP
What can we say? We like 100 mph fastballs.
Miller and Helsley have those in abundance, with the former even sitting at 100.3 mph with his heater in 2025. Helsley's average is a relatively paltry 98.7 mph, but he's gotten as high as 101.7 mph.
Though each is overqualified for the role, Scott and Hader would be the lefty killers in this pen. Hader has held southpaws to a .484 OPS for his career, while Scott is one of the few pitchers on the planet who can claim to have Ohtani's number. The three-time MVP has faced Scott 10 times and only gotten one hit.
Williams, Walker and Gaddis would be the specialty pitch brigade. Williams' "Airbender" changeup needs no introduction, while Walker and Gaddis have claims to the best sinker and slider in MLB, respectively.
Rounding things out would be King, who was a successful multi-inning fireman for the New York Yankees before he developed into an ace starter for the San Diego Padres. He'd technically be another bulk guy, but one who could also be used in a high-leverage spot in the late innings if need be.
The 2025 ZiPS projections for these guys add up to 105 WAR. If it sounds like a lot, it is. There isn't a single team in MLB organization projected for more than 80 WAR this year, and we're not talking just from its major leaguers. That includes prospects and other minor leaguers, too.
Clearly, this is a 30-man crew that could do damage against any team that crossed its path during the 2026 World Baseball Classic, up to and including Japan.
Bullpen Honorable Mentions: Jeff Hoffman, Kirby Yates, Matt Strahm, David Robertson, Griffin Jax
